Researchers are warning that the next eruption of Vesuvius could be much more deadly than the Italian authorities are planning for. A US-Italian collaboration says deadly blasts have previously caused devastation which swept well beyond modern Naples. Italian plans call for the evacuation of 600,000 people from the city. But the researchers say up to three million people could be at risk according to the new assessment. Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79, the eruption that buried the Roman town of Pompeii. Plans for the evacuation of Naples are based on a similar-sized eruption in 1631. But go back about 3,780 years and Vesuvius exploded with even greater force. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk censor News |
Editor - 11:00:00 03-07-06 |
US state tightens abortion laws |
A US state has signed into law a bill banning most abortions, in a move aimed to force the US Supreme Court to reconsider its key ruling on the issue. The South Dakota law - approved by the governor on Monday - makes it a crime for doctors to perform terminations. Exceptions will be made if a woman's life is at risk, but not in cases of rape or incest. Many believe new appointments to the Supreme Court may have tipped the balance in favour of anti-abortionists. Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are considered conservatives. Justice Alito is thought to be more likely to rule against abortion than his predecessor, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4780522.stm
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Editor - 10:54:00 03-07-06 |
Woman loses frozen embryos fight |
A woman left infertile after cancer treatment cannot use her frozen embryos to have a baby, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. Natallie Evans started IVF treatment with her then partner Howard Johnston in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up. Ms Evans went to the Strasbourg court after exhausting the UK legal process. She now hopes to appeal to the Grand Jury of the European Court, but still wants her ex-fiancé to change his mind. Ms Evans said: "I'm still as determined to do whatever it takes to have a child of my own." She added: "Howard may feel it's too late for him to change his mind, but it's not." But Mr Johnston said: "It seems that common sense has prevailed. "The key thing for me was just to be able to decide when, and if, I would start a family." ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4779876.stm
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Editor - 10:52:00 03-07-06 |
Prosecution Says Moussaoui Trained to Lie. He must have had aspirations to be a Lawyer or a Politician till he found a more respectable calling :) |
Prosecutors in Zacarias Moussaoui's death penalty trial sought Tuesday to unravel his claims that he knew nothing of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, arguing that al-Qaida members are carefully scripted to lie when caught. FBI agent Michael Anticev, testifying for a second day, offered the jury a primer on al-Qaida cover stories and the organization's techniques of deception when cell members are questioned. Moussaoui's lawyers are portraying him as a pathetic loner who dreamed of becoming a terrorist but was shut out of Sept. 11 planning and considered by one al-Qaida leader a "cuckoo in the head." They also want to show the government knew far more about brewing al-Qaida plots than Moussaoui did, and in that vein pressed Anticev on what the FBI was doing to follow up on warning signals before 9/11. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/wireStory?id=1696173&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 10:49:00 03-07-06 |
Jupiter growing another red spot |
The Great Red Spot that has dominated the planet Jupiter's cloudtops for hundreds of years now has a companion. The gas giant is growing another red spot, which US space agency (Nasa) astronomers have nicknamed "Red Jr". Both red spots are actually raging storms in Jupiter's cloud layer, but scientists don't yet know how they get their characteristic brick colour. Red Jr is about half the size of the Great Red Spot and almost exactly the same colour, Science@Nasa reports. The new storm goes by the official name of Oval BA. It was first observed in 2000, when three smaller spots collided and merged. At first, Oval BA remained white - the same colour as the storms that combined to create it. But over the past few months, it has started to change in appearance. "The oval was white in November 2005, it slowly turned brown in December 2005, and red a few weeks ago," said Christopher Go, an amateur astronomer from the Philippines who has been observing Red Jr. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4781730.stm
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Editor - 10:39:00 03-07-06 |
New Kember tape aired on Arab TV |
A videotape of British hostage Norman Kember and two other peace activists has been broadcast on Arab satellite television station al-Jazeera. The 74-year-old, from north-west London, was seized in Baghdad with two Canadians and an American in November. The members of peace group Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) were last seen in a video clip broadcast in January. The UK Foreign Office said it was concerned the American Tom Fox did not appear on the tape dated 28 February. "We hope that all four are well and will be released unharmed," a spokeswoman said. The men were kidnapped on 26 November by a previously unknown group calling itself the Swords of Truth Brigade, which has demanded all Iraqi prisoners be freed. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4781462.stm
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Editor - 10:36:00 03-07-06 |
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